KIERON GILLEN Leaves IRON MAN, Future of Series Unclear

British writer Kieron Gillen has steered Marvel's Iron Man series to space and back, but his run on the title is ending in just over a month in a surprise announcement. In a statement posted online, Gillen revealed thathis last issue on the series would be Iron Man #28, and that his run on the character in total will culminate with Original Sin #3.4 which will ship at the end of June. Iron Man has been absent from Marvel's advance solicitations for July and August, but at the time it was believed to be a result of the weekly Original Sin #3. issues featuring Iron Man and the Hulk. Gillen says the reason, however, behind his departure is due to another project he's working on at Marvel.

"Basically, the situation is this. An enormous opportunity turned up," Gillen said on his Tumblr page. "We looked at my schedule. We realised that it just wasn’t going to work. The new book Marvel was offering was so utterly irresistible, I knew something had to give – and I realised that I was actually in a good place to bring my run to a conclusion."

This would be the third departure of a writer from a high profile book at Marvel this week, as we've learned that Mark Waid was stepping down from Hulk and Warren Ellis' run on Moon Knight is to end in August. Waid, like Gillen, is writing the Original Sin #3. issues, in his case focusing on the Hulk, and stated online that his reason for leaving Hulk was to focus more time on Daredevil.

Gillen says that while he had "other things" in mind for future Iron Man stories, this unnamed new project at Marvel necessitated him to step down earlier than planned. Newsarama reached out for Marvel for a comment, and Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso said the Original Sin#3. issues are an ideal end point for the writer's story.

"When you read the Original Sin tie-in story, Hulk vs. Iron Man, you'll see why this was the perfect place to bring Kieron’s run to a close, and why there’s no Iron Man title in the August solicits," says Marvel Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso in a statement to Newsarama. "Kieron is leaving the series on a high note, and on his own terms, pencil sharpened and poised to write another epic story we'll be talking about soon."

Marvel, however, declined to clarify if and when the Iron Man ongoing series will continue or who will be writing it if it does.